UPDATE: NOVEMBER 2015
Fox has been released from jail & as his visa had been revoked by the Department of Immigration he was taken to Villawood immigration detention centre where he is fighting deportation to the US.

Paedophile used boys like a ‘sexual commodity’

Mitchell Bruce Fox, 68, of Northbridge, was part of a child-sex ring operating in Sydney in the late 1970s and ’80s that had links to the notorious paedophile Robert ”Dolly” Dunn.

The Sydney District Court yesterday heard Fox, a former partner in a Pink Panther printing business, sexually abused the boys, aged between nine and 15, over five years at his homes in Bellevue Hill and Collaroy and on a boat on Sydney Harbour.

Judge Michael King said Fox was introduced to the boys by other members of the ring, including John Thomas Shiel and Phillip Edwards, who had ”groomed” the boys to participate in sexual activity with men.

Judge King said Fox pleaded guilty to seven charges in March this year after his lawyer, in ”a desperate last roll of the dice”, failed in a bid to have each victim give evidence in a separate trial.

Fox often paid Shiel $50 for access to the boys, who had been trained to do sexual acts with men. Judge King rejected a submission from the defence that the victims had consented and did not physically resist, saying the youths had a ”warped” view of the world as a result of being groomed by the ring. One victim told police that by the time he was ”pimped” to Fox, ”it was normal to me”.

”For the offender’s deviant sexual gratification, these boys were a mere sexual commodity for which he was willing to pay,” Judge King said.

Fox, who was born in the US and has two daughters, aged 27 and 24, to his first wife, and a 15-year-old son to his second wife, has been in protective custody since April. One of his daughters sobbed loudly as Judge King sentenced Fox to a non-parole period of 4½ years, with a maximum sentence of nine years.

Fox will be eligible for parole on October 28, 2015.

Earlier this month, Shiel was sentenced to a minimum 11 years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to 54 charges committed between 1978 and 2007, including indecent assault, being an accessory to indecent assault, and 23 charges of buggery.

Karen Lindley, from the advocacy group Bravehearts, said Fox was jailed according to sentencing principles in force at the time of the offences, rather than under legislation today.

”In historical cases we’re likely to see a longer sentence but it’s still a fairly big sentence and it goes some way towards the victims feeling that there was justice here today,” she said.

Ms Lindley said the sentence should help victims of historical sexual abuse to come forward.

Developer in Sydney child sex ring jailed

A wealthy property developer who sexually abused three boys he gained access to through a child paedophile ring has been jailed for at least 4½ years.

Mitchell Bruce Fox, 68, of Northbridge, was part of a child sex ring operating in Sydney in the late 1970s and ’80s, which had links to the notorious paedophile Robert “Dolly” Dunn.

The Sydney District Court this morning heard Fox, a former partner in a Pink Panther printing business, sexually abused the boys, aged between nine and 15, over a five-year period at his homes in Bellevue Hill and Collaroy and on a boat on Sydney Harbour.

Judge Michael King said Fox was introduced to the boys by other members of the ring, including John Thomas Shiel and Phillip Edwards, who had “groomed” the boys to participate in sexual activity with adult men.

Judge King said Fox pleaded guilty to seven charges in March this year after his lawyer, in “a desperate last roll of the dice”, failed in a bid to have each victim give evidence in a separate trial.

Fox often paid Sheil $50 for access to the boys, who had been trained to do sexual acts with men.

Judge King rejected a submission from the defence that the victims had consented and did not physically resist, saying the youths had a “warped” view of the world as a result of being groomed by the ring.

One victim told police that, by the time he was “pimped” to Fox, “it was normal to me”.

“For the offender’s deviant sexual gratification, these boys were a mere sexual commodity for which he was willing to pay,” Judge King said.

Fox, who was born in the US and has two daughters, aged 27 and 24, to his first wife, and a 15-year-old son to his second wife, has been in protective custody since April.

One of his daughters sobbed loudly as Judge King sentenced Fox to a non-parole period of 4½ years, with a maximum sentence of nine years.

Fox will be eligible for parole on October 28, 2015.

This month, Shiel was sentenced to a minimum 11 years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to 54 charges committed between 1978 and 2007, including indecent assault, being an accessory to indecent assault, and 23 charges of buggery.

Karen Lindley, from the organisation Bravehearts, said Fox was jailed according to sentencing principals in force at the time of the offences, rather than penalties set under legislation today.

“In historical cases we like to see a longer sentence but it’s still a fairly big sentence and it goes some way towards the victims feeling that there was justice here today.”

Ms Lindley said the sentence should encourage other victims of historical sexual abuse to come forward.

“The community is saying very strongly that [when it comes to] historical cases, if you offend, you will be bought to trial.

“It takes a lot of courage to come forward but, if you have been offended against, people are there to stand behind you and help you get justice.”

Sydney developer admits paedophile crimes

A SYDNEY property developer who accessed boys through a child paedophile ring in the 1980s has pleaded guilty to sex crimes against three victims.

One of the children was introduced to Mitchell Bruce Fox, 67, after having been “instructed and trained” to do sexual acts with an adult, and knew not to act like “a dead fish”.

Fox had been ordered to stand trial but today, supported in the NSW District Court by two young women, he pleaded guilty to seven charges including buggery and indecent assault.

From the dock, Fox at times held his gaze at the public gallery where his three victims, now adults, sat.

They were as young as nine at the time of the crimes, which happened from 1979-85 at his Fox’s properties and on a boat on Sydney Harbour.

According to facts tendered to the court, Fox paid $50 for anal sex on different occasions and also procured a victim for oral sex.

Two of the boys were introduced to Fox by another man who befriended and groomed them “for sexual activity”.
One of the victims said he was “already sexually conditioned” when he met Fox.

“I knew what was expected of me and how I was to behave” in the presence of Fox, he said.

Another didn’t report the abuse as a child because his mother had died and he was scared to tell his father.

He was “switched off” about the offending and said he just knew “what to do when he went to bed with the adult men”.

One described himself as being prostituted out, saying he was taken on “exciting outings” including to Parramatta Speedway, and received gifts, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

During an unsuccessful attempt to have Fox’s name suppressed, the court heard how one victim felt he had had to hide for 30 years so “why should the offender be able to hide now”.

Reading out his comments, crown prosecutor Kara Shead said: “Our community has the right to know about the accused so parents can protect their children”.

Ms Shead also said the public interest in securing the prosecution of offenders who commit such crimes was great, adding that one of the victims came forward only after reading Fox’s name in the newspaper.

He had remained silent for years, fearing he would not be believed, she said.

The two others charged by the same strike force – Philip John Edwards and John Thomas Shiel – face more than 450 charges against seven victims and have been denied bail.

They were alleged to have had links with Dunn, who died in prison last July.

Mr Fox, who was last night granted $100,000 bail in Hornsby Local Court, is not believed to have known Mr Dunn, police said. His lawyer said the retired property developer denied the allegations and rejected prosecution claims that the US-born Mr Fox, who has lived in Australia for 38 years, was a flight risk.

The court was told Mr Fox had three children, a property portfolio worth $4 million and half a million dollars on deposit.

His lawyer argued there was ”inherent vagueness” about the times, dates and locations of the alleged offences.

Some of the evidence related to someone ”having an American accent” while one of the locations mentioned was ”a mansion somewhere in Sydney”.

But the magistrate, Lisa Stapleton, said she was satisfied with the strength of the prosecution case, saying uncertainty about times, dates and locations could be expected, given the time since the alleged offences.

She said there were ”strong similarities” in the evidence given by two of the alleged victims, particularly the location of the alleged offences and how they were introduced to Mr Fox.

One of the alleged victims came forward through the anti-child abuse organisation Bravehearts. Before hearing of the decision to grant bail on strict conditions, its founder, Hetty Johnston, said yesterday the man was relieved Mr Fox had been charged.

Ms Johnston said he had come to the organisation in a ”really fragile state” and police had later identified two additional alleged victims.

She said speaking out empowered survivors of child abuse. ‘They have been silent for all these years,” Ms Johnston said. ”Now they have permission to speak.”

The acting commander of the sex crimes squad, Detective Acting Superintendent Paul Jacob, said investigating such ”historic” matters was always difficult because it was unlikely they could be corroborated by forensic evidence.

He praised Bravehearts for encouraging them to bring their allegations to police. ”These are allegations of sexual assault against children between the ages of eight to 12. It does not get more serious,” he said.

Ms Johnston said that even if complaints were laid decades later further offending could often be stopped.